Promises Promises
by PrettyGothGirl
Summary: RG: Gippal makes a promise in an effort to get out of another promise. Pt. 3 And in the end, it's not completely his fault that he promptly forgets his first promise.
1. Chapter 1

**Promises, Promises** **Pt. 1**  
_by PrettyGothGirl_  
**Summary:** In an effort to get out of doing one thing, Gippal promises to do something else and given that he is promising such to Rikku, he really ought to know better.  
**Author's Note:** This is a story I wrote back in 2006 and is a prequel to 1frickengirl's Handy Man, which can be found at Quite the Couple on Livejournal. The challenge was to use the words yellow, puppy and toaster. I just found it the other day on my computer. I didn't realize how easy it was to lose stories.  
**Anonymous Review Warning:** Lack of email in anonymous reviews causes PGG symptoms of irritation and annoyance resulting in apathy over stated opinion in said review. If your opinion is important enough for you to comment, then I want it to be important enough for me to reply to. Thank you.

It was one of those strangely typical commsphere conversations with Rikku. Whatever she wanted was hidden behind layers and layers of pointless minutiae of day-to-day living.

"I'm thinking of getting a puppy."

Gippal looked up from the paperwork he was doing at Djose and frowned at the commsphere. He watched her pour something into a bowl and start mixing. He frowned more at this, because when Rikku mixed something it usually ended in an explosion. He relaxed though when he noticed the flour, sugar and what looked like a box of cocoa on the table. Plus she was using her aluminum bowls and not her glass or copper bowls. She'd explained to him once magic didn't stick to copper. He concluded whatever she was mixing this time was safe, like a cake or something. She was a good baker, since all it took was to follow a recipe. "A puppy?"

"Yeah, there's this shop on one of the squares and they're really cute."

He turned back to his paperwork, talking with Rikku always made it somewhat less boring. "Don't puppies usually turn into dogs?"

"Well, yeah, but it is rather lonely since I've got the apartment and I thought a puppy might give me someone to talk to."

"And what am I?" He asked with a sharp look at the commsphere.

She sighed. "You aren't here, you know, in person, talking on the commsphere is all well and good-"

"And gil wasting."

"-but it's not the same."

"So you've said over and over again."

"I don't want to argue with you. But the puppies are adorable, you should have a look."

"No thank you."

"Help me pick one out?"

He made the mistake of looking over at the commsphere. She was looking straight at it with the widest eyes he'd ever seen, bottom lip beginning to jut out just a little bit. He looked back at his papers and steeled himself against that look. "No." He'd already wiggled out of a promise to fix her toaster. He wasn't going to help her pick out a puppy either.

"Please."

"No."

"They're cute."

"No."

"They're soft and furry and rolly-polly."

"No."

"There's a yellow golden one."

"No."

"Come on. It's not going to ruin your manliness to look a bunch of puppies. And I haven't seen you in ages."

"No."

"Not even just to visit me." She wasn't pouting anymore. She looked truly upset.

He swallowed back a huge lump of guilt. She was right. He hadn't seen her or any of his friends in person in ages. Now she looked like a forlorn puppy, a forlorn kicked puppy. He shoved the papers away. They could wait. "All right, I'll come. I even promise to fix the toaster, just no puppies."

She smiled, instantly cheerful again. "You promise."

"Yes, I promise."

--

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	2. Chapter 2

**Promises, Promises Pt. 2 of 3**  
_by PrettyGothGirl_  
**Summary:** Gippal shows up at Rikku's with dinner and Rikku won't stop talking about puppies and makes hints towards other things.  
**A/N:** Okay, this is a totally new bit to the story! When writing back in 2006, I got bogged down at this part. I don't really enjoy writing dinner type scenes, however I do indulge in lots of dialogue here, which is like my drug. Okay, story! And next week, conclusion (if you already haven't found it at Quite the Couple.)

He showed up at her door with dinner. He would've brought flowers as well. If he hadn't thought of them one millisecond before his knuckles hit the door and by then it was far too late. A beaming Rikku flung the door open. He opened his mouth and she grabbed his arm, tugged him inside and the door shut behind him with a rather loud and somewhat ominous thud-click. It drove all thoughts out of his mind and he forgot what he was going to say as he looked over his shoulder at the door with its automatic lock.

"Trying to keep people in or people out?" He asked. She looked at him in confusion. "Door, lock… I brought dinner." He held out the bag.

She blinked. "Both, I guess." She decided to not linger on the door topic. "You didn't have to get dinner. I could've made something." She took the bag from him anyways.

"You were making dessert. I wanted to contribute." He glanced down and wondered if she realized she was still holding his hand, although they weren't going anywhere.

"You're going to fix my toaster." She said, her tone added. 'What more do you need to contribute?'

"Fine," He snatched the bag back. "I can eat spicy fish and vegetables, sweet'n'sour soup, rice and oranges all by myself."

She grabbed the bag back. "Those are _my_ favorites."

He smirked. "I know, but too late now."

She dropped his hand and marched off towards the kitchen. "I'll get some dishes." He grinned at her retreating back and her nose stuck in the air. He sprawled across the couch and listened to the rattling of glass and her muttering. He closed his eye and relaxed. "Move." She said. He cracked his eye open. Rikku put dishes and food containers on the table. He didn't move. She glared at him. "_Share_." He didn't even twitch. "And are those your boots on my couch? Off."

"They aren't harming anything."

"They're dirty. Boots off." She pointed at the floor.

"Bossy brat."

She sat on him. She couldn't be more than 110 pounds wringing wet. It was amusing she thought it was going to do anything. "Stubborn jackass."

He gave in, as much fun as it was to bait her, the next step after the insults was usually some sort of physical attack. And he'd rather do that _after_ dinner. He was hungry and there was such a thing as priorities. Food always came first. Except- He buried the exceptions and went back to the lie. Food came first. He half sat up, picked her up by her waist, put his feet on the floor and set her back down, sputtering and an undignified heap. He leaned over to take his boots off and she hit him with a pillow. He grinned, got his boots off, threw them across the room and turned and grabbed the pillow as she brought it down on another swing. He wrangled it away from her and set it on top of his other pillow.

She huffed a braid away from her face and glared at him. There was only one thing to do, one thing to distract her from trying to inflict more physical harm upon his person with soft and fluffy pillows that could double as projectiles. He stabbed a piece of fish on a fork and held it in front of her mouth and as soon as it opened, whether it was for her to say something or to accept the bright yellow food he didn't care. It made it into her mouth and it closed around it.

Rikku's eyes closed and she made a small noise of content. He pulled the fork out and set it on her lap. She stayed that way for a few moments, savoring the food.

He grinned, distraction successful.

Her eyes snapped open and he straightened his face. Her eyes narrowed. "I know what you're trying to do."

He blinked and then tried his best puppy dog eyes. "What?"

It never worked with her for some reason. At some point, Gippal had theorized it was because he only had one eye and if he had had two eyes there would be double the effect and thus she might believe him more. "You're _trying_ to distract me." She paused. "With food, good food, my favorite food. It won't work."

"Well," He tilted his head. "It won't keep me from trying."

She snorted, picked up the fork and stabbed something that wasn't spicy fish just to spite him. "There are other methods of distraction that work better." She muttered.

He turned his head so he could look at her from the side of his eye and pretend he was debating what to eat first. He wasn't sure he was meant to hear that, especially with the light blush now staining Rikku's cheeks. His lips twitched. If that meant what he thought it meant, things could get very interesting in the near future. He absconded with the rest of the spicy fish and the rice.

"Hey!" She straightened. "Share!"

He set the rice back that counted as sharing. "You are awfully bossy tonight." He leaned back and spread his legs out.

"You're being mean and stealing all the best stuff. Halfsies."

"You've already had one piece. Sixty forty."

"It's my favorite." She pouted.

He sighed. Damn it. It never worked for him, but it always worked for her. It had to be the two eyes versus one. That or she was cuter than he was. He split the fish and then took more than his fair share of the rest of the food. Her lips twitched and she glanced at him through her bangs. "What! I'm bigger. I need more."

She snorted and wiggled around so her back was against the couch arm, her toes jammed under his thigh and knees propping up her plate. "Mmm, how's work?"

"Boring."

She wiggled her toes. "Come on."

He took a few bites of food before answering. "You got me here in person and you wanna talk about work?"

She looked at the ends of her fork and considered that. "No. We could talk about puppies."

"You promised." He pointed at her with his fork.

"I didn't think you meant we couldn't talk about them." She stuffed food into her mouth and chewed and actually remembered to swallow before speaking. "She's so cute though."

"No puppies. Toaster."

"I have a picture."

He decided it was time to change the subject. "How's Yuna?"

"You know, Yunie." She paused and looked at him. "Happily enjoying being a housewife even though she's not yet really a housewife. She's probably inventing new ways to use a toaster." Rikku eyed the food on her fork. "Maybe she should get a puppy."

"What is it with you and puppies?" He shoved food into his mouth.

Rikku shrugged. "I dunno."

He swallowed. "Because pets require commitment and settling and…"

"Maybe I'm ready for that." She didn't look at him. "Hey, do you want more rice?"

"Take it."

"Awesome." She stretched and grunted. "I can't reach."

He sniggered. "Then move."

She glared at him. "Please?" She moved her foot enough to shove his thigh. He looked down at it.

"No."

"Come on. I said please."

"And you shoved me with your toes. Get it yourself."

She shoved him again. "I would, but I can't reach. So please would you pass me the rice?"

"Don't do that again."

"Do what?" She asked and fluttered her eyelashes, before promptly poking him with her toes for the third time.

He leaned forward and very carefully set his mostly empty plate down, not that he could remember eating that much. He made a grab for her toes. She darted them backwards, but given their close proximity to the couch, they were nowhere near out of his reach. He leaned forward and handed her the rice.

She sniffed. "Thank you." She stretched her legs and set them in his lap, crossing them at the ankle in a calm, deliberate manner. "Yunie's Yuna, she lives to take care of people."

"If that equates into deliberate suicide to save the world for about ten years, then yeah, I guess that fits." He said and tried not to look at her feet too much, but they were tempting feet. Tiny ankles, high arches, cute tiny toes that were mocking him with their yellow nail polish.

Rikku continued to eat. "She would've done it." She shrugged. "Good thing Tidus and I came along, oh and Auron."

"I heard rumors he was dead before all that."

Rikku swallowed and looked up. "Huh? Who said that?"

"It was a rumor."

"Yeah well, it's true. He was dead but not dead dead, as in unsent dead."

"That's creepy. Being almost possessed by an undead guy." He knew creepy.

"Shuyinn was a shadow." She wiggled her toes instead of her fingers.

He glanced down. "Seemed real enough to me."

"And I was possessed by him too, so don't get all uppity."

"Wait."

She sighed and by half rolling over managed to set her plate on the table and rolled back before answering. "Look, you guys were in the Farplane. You told us to take care of things. Paine, Yuna and I unlocked the Den of Woe and first we fought shadows of you guys. I will never ever call Nooj a pansy and you're mortar is a very nice weapon. Then Shuyinn possessed Paine and I to try to get to Yuna since, he thought she was Lenne and all. It's no big deal."

He stared at her. "No big deal."

"Something else we have in common, being possessed by the undead creepy shadow Tidus look alike guy." She grinned.

"You girls went into the Den on purpose."

She rolled her eyes and shoved his thigh with her foot. "Yes. We did. We did a lot of things that were dangerous and potentially stupid. We're big girls. We can take care of ourselves."

He eyed her foot. "I told you not to do that."

She huffed. "Big girl, can take care of myself. You were _not_ listening."

He caught her eyes and grinned. "Yeah, but I know something the creepy undead don't."

"What's that?"

"Your toes are ticklish." He lunged and ran his fingers along the arch of her foot.

She shrieked and tried to bat him off with her limbs. "Gippal!"

He laughed as they tumbled off the couch. The fight was on.

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	3. Chapter 3

**Promises, Promises Pt. 3**  
_by PrettyGothGirl_  
**Summary:** Gippal makesa promise to Rikku; Pt. 3, it's not entirely his fault that he promptly forgets it.  
**A/N:** The exciting, and short, conclusion to Promises, Promises. Please, if you liked this story, go read Handyman by 1frickengirl! You can find it at the quitethecouple livejournal community in the memory archives. Thanks so much!

_After dinner…_

They'd been wrestling, started by Gippal making an attack on Rikku's very ticklish toes and her desperate measures trying to get away from him. Until they'd both run out of breathe. The yellow braided rug was bunched off to one wall, the table had been upturned and the couch was at an odd angle to the rest of the room. Now they lay sprawled on the wood floor, panting like a couple of puppies worn out after playing. Rikku's body draped over his chest.

He carefully poked her shoulder. "You all right?"

"No."

He snorted and closed his eye.

"Don't ask if you don't believe me."

"Your head's on the floor." He muttered. "That can't be very comfortable."

"I can't move." She said. He was pretty sure she stuck out her tongue at him, but as his eye was still closed he couldn't be positive.

"You were moving fast enough earlier."

"_You_ were after my _toes_."

"They're cute toes. I like 'em." It was all logical and very reasonable. "I want to keep 'em."

"You _can't_. They're attached to me."

He continued with logical and reasonable. "Then I'll just have to keep you too."

She snorted. "Promises, promises."

He cracked an eye open and pushed his body up with his elbows. A glance at her showed she was smiling. He looked down at Rikku's stomach, as usual bare due to one of her revealing outfits. He considered it for a moment. "I've changed my mind."

"Not unusual." She said, voice flat.

His eyebrow rose, but he carried on. "I want your belly button instead. It's a cute belly button." He shifted his weight to one arm and used a hand to trace around the little dip.

Her eyes widened and she swallowed. "You've still the same problem."

"I see no problem." He cupped her stomach with his hand.

"The spicy fish fried your brain." She said and stretched.

He smirked. It was a nice view. "Nah." She collapsed and maneuvered her way off of his body, until she had a clear section of floor for herself _away_ from him. He rolled and crawled over to her, straddling her body. He peered down into her face. "Or maybe I should have your nose."

She whacked his arm. "Choose something that's not an important part of my body and attached to me permanently."

His brow furrowed. "Why should I do that?" Logical and reasonable again, "If I do that I can't keep you."

"Gip-"

He cut her off with a kiss, since she was insisting on keeping up the argument. He didn't see a problem, especially when her lips were so soft. He pulled away reluctantly. "I like your lips too." He said. She flushed. "I can't decide. I guess I'll just have to see it all, make a list of all the parts I like the most."

Her jaw dropped and he used the opportunity to kiss her more, sliding his tongue inside her mouth. She relaxed and began to respond, arms wrapping around his neck. He ended the kiss and sat up, pulling her up with him. He stood up and hooked an arm under knees. She pulled his head down for another kiss as he carried her to the bedroom. It was the only appropriate place to have these types of games after all.

As the door shut behind them, for some odd reason the word _toaster_ popped into his brain, but for the life of him he couldn't remember why.

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